NEW HOPE RISING
by ricsanchez
Summary: Chapter 1 of a new Star Wars adventure that happens 16 years after the destruction of the second Death Star. The story of young Ona Parissian, a young man with a very powerful secret that can alter the balance of the weakened Force.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The teaching android, a new version of robotics that had been implanted with humor chips in an effort to make them more interactive with sentient beings, stopped hovering and gently landed on the cold steel floor in the center of the classroom. Her optical sensors focused n him. All six hundred pairs of eyes sitting in the classroom turned to him. He straightened himself and ignored the few teetering laughs around him. He looked up at the holoboard and saw the image displayed up there: Endor.

"Mr. Ona Parissian, have you been sleeping in class again?" the android asked with an almost perfect human intonation of a tease.

Ona cleared his throat. Sixteen years had passed since the Rebels had destroyed the second Death Star. The death of both Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader had for the most part ended the Empire. Many generals and new leaders remained out in the universe but mostly operated selfishly. Because of that, the Empire had very little clout. Most systems that had been enslaved by the Empire were now part of the New Federation and were prospering in relative safety. Local governors ruled as their people saw fit and for the most part, it was very democratic.

Ever since Ona had been a little boy he had been fascinated with that last great battle at Endor that defeated the Empire. It wasn't because the entire galaxy had radically changed in that one day nor because it had become an intergalactic holiday. It wasn't that each and every year he had attended school thus far somehow managed to cover that battle. For Ona, it ran a lot more personal than that.

His mother had been part of the small, elite team that had landed on that small moon, allowing the Rebel fleet to destroy the Death Star. Although her part was hardly mentioned in the history annals, she had shared with him many stories of her adventure there as bedtime stories. If he asked nicely, once in a while she would show him a small token she had taken before they left after the huge celebration under the stars. It was a claw that many of the Ewoks carried around their necks. He had asked hundreds of times to tell him which Ewok had given that to her but to date, she held that secret firm.

Those stories fueled his hunger for knowledge about that pivotal point in time. Most kids he knew preferred the first space battle that resulted in the destruction of the first Death Star but that battle had only set events in motion that altered the lives of the people he so admired: the heroes of the Rebel Alliance. He had studied closely all the major players and even had holograms on his walls of artistic renderings of the event. Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, C3P0, and R2D2 against a forestall backdrop. Floating in space, he had Admiral Ackbar, Lando and of course Luke Skywalker; especially Luke Skywalker.

"Um, no. Not at all. I'm just in awe. Did you say Master Skywalker is coming here?"

The class openly laughed at the question. The teacher assessed the mood and responded in kind, as it was programmed to do. "That is correct Ona. We are being honored with his presence next week. As we previously studied, our leaders have been working hard on reaching an agreement with the new Trade Federation and Master Skywalker himself will make sure that the deal is beneficial to both parties. Since he will be arriving one day before the meetings start, he has requested to speak to our class. Of course, we agreed immediately."

Ona nodded. "I heard that part."

The class erupted in laughter again. The class resembled a senate chamber, a mini-round arena. In the center the holoboard displayed the lessons being taught to all the students at the same time and with great clarity. It was designed so that each and every seat in the classroom had a perfect, dead-on view of it. There was a circular space between the holoboard and the first row of desks, designed for the android teacher to quickly circle around and keep notice of all students. As she taught the lessons, she hovered in short circular orbit about 3 feet from the ground. When she asked a student a question, she landed on her short feet and focused her optical receptors on that one student. As she was doing now to Ona.

Ona cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your question."

The teacher made a disappointed series of beeps before it spoke words. "Yes, well what I had previously stated was that each of you will prepare three questions for him. Not all of you will get to ask them, of course; otherwise he will be here for weeks on end. Three of you will be randomly selected to voice your queries. I have called upon you, Mr. Parissian, to share a question you might ask Master Skywalker should you be chosen."

Ona shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The class laughed at his embarrassment, as they always did. He looked at the image of Endor floating in front of him on the holoboard. "I, um, I have not really thought about it."

As the laughter died down, the teacher android insisted. "Perhaps you can come up with one right now then – just for the sake of our assignment."

Ona nodded. What would he ask the lone remaining Jedi Master? Sure, he had re-opened the Jedi Academy but as far as he knew, no one had graduated quite yet. Perhaps that would not be public knowledge but somehow he knew his belief to be true. Taking a deep breath and concentrating, he willed the class to cease their laughter. A neat trick he had discovered as a very young boy.

He remembered the first time he had done so. He had been about three years old in a toy store. Being the only son of a single woman that worked for the local head of trade meant that they didn't have a lot of discretionary income. On the rare occasions that he was treated to a trip to the toy store, he knew even at that young age that he would have to choose something from the lowest priced section, or something in the used bins. That bright day, he happened to run into another boy his age holding the latest interactive "friend-bot," a small android, shaped like a dinner plate that hovered around the control band that the child would wear around the wrist, an interactive boomerang of sorts with retractable arms capable of carrying objects up to 80 pounds back to its owner. Ona had seen advertisements for it and he wanted one.

The boy looked at him and sneered. Being the latest toy tat summer, it carried a premium price. Instinctively he knew they could not afford it. Ona really wanted one, though. As his mother came to check up on him, she saw him stare at the boy, concentrating hard, eyes almost shut and beads of sweat building on his brow. Suddenly, the other boy blinked, seemed to doze off and then quickly walked over to Ona and hand handing him his toy, as if in a trance. Before Ona reached out to grab it, his mother yanked him by the arm and dragged him out of the store. As his concentration broke, the other boy blinked again and looked confused before realizing that he didn't want to be in the toy store anymore.

Ona looked up at his mother as they almost ran through the busy street. He could see she was frightened. When she got him home, she locked all the doors and made him swear to never do that again. Now also frightened, he began to cry and swore not to do it again, although he didn't understand what he had done exactly. It took him a few more years before he understood that he could control the thoughts of others. Very difficult at first, he found it easier as he got older and practiced more.

It worked on most people, and last year he had been shocked to discover that if he really concentrated, he could have the same effect on androids. It wasn't exactly identical but it felt as if he could momentarily reprogram them to do as he asked them to. He had only practiced on the simpler androids to that date, like the street sweepers or the food processors, but as that got easier for him, he planned on using it on more complex robotics, like his teacher. Being extra careful to keep his secret, he never spoke a word or made the slightest physical gesture while he did his trick.

The laughter stopped almost immediately. Ona smiled and looked at the teacher. "I guess I would ask him how long does he believe it will take the Jedi Academy to be back at full strength, as it was prior to the rise of the Sith lords."

The teacher android nodded her oblong, shiny head. "Although that is a good question, I would suggest we stay on more diplomatic topics. We don't want to burden Master Skywalker with a question he has probably receive thousands of times."

"Then I would ask him why the New Federation is using old Empire tactics to get new systems to join them. Why they sell their 'protection' when at the time they were defeating the Empire, they were fighting to abolish such deals."

The teacher issued a short series of beeps and whirs before it spoke. Ona, we should try to keep it local."

"Okay. Why is he really here? We are a small system and we're far from the center of action, but yet he makes a bi-annual visit here. Why?"

The teacher android processed the questions and nodded. "Very good questions and more in tone with the point of his visit. Good work Mr. Parissian, may you be lucky enough to meet him and ask him those questions. Miss Entrow, what about you?

As the class shifted focus from him to the other side of the classroom, Ona turned his eyes back to the moon of Endor. It had been there that his existence had begun. Not on technical or practical terms, but without that encounter there, he would not be sitting in the classroom.

"Luck will have nothing to do with it." He muttered under his breath, unaware that his hands had become tight fists. "He will seek me out, and he will find me. And boy, is he in for a shock."

The boy next to him, whom he sometimes called his friend, leaned over quietly. They had to be careful as the android teachers had excellent audio receptors. "What did you just say?"

Without looking at the boy, Ona sent out a subtle and quick command: you heard nothing. He then turned to him, eyebrow cocked, asking for clarification. The boy had a momentary look of confusion, then his eyes focused. "Those were good questions."

The boy sat straight in his seat and focused on the answer the young lady was giving the teacher. Ona turned his attention back to Endor.


	2. Chapter 2

5

Chapter 2

He walked home as he always did, practicing his quickly developing ability to control minds. He had discovered a few years earlier that if he relaxed and opened his mind, he could 'sense' the presence of most beings around him. Not only sense them, but he could also anticipate what they wee thinking and were about to do, as if he could read their minds. This new discovery helped him tremendously in the sports arena where he didn't need to react to his opponent's move: he knew what it would be as soon his adversary.

No matter how much he wanted to expand this new ability and use to become even more popular, especially with the opposite sex, the vivid memory of the fear that his mother had felt that day when she had seen him control that young boy's mind for the first time kept him from using it too much. He didn't want to draw too much attention to himself. He became satisfied with finishing in the top fifteen of any event, but never first place. That meant that he was good, but not good enough to draw much attention from anyone. Especially from his mother, who attended all the events in which he participated.

Now that Master Skywalker was coming to his school, he had to be able to make the teachers pick him as one of the three that would get to ask him questions. Some of them were human, others were androids and others were from other species. Who would pick the students, he didn't know, but he had to be able to get in the heads of all of them and put his name at the top of their lists. The transport station offered him the perfect training fields since all types of life, sentient and mechanical gathers in groups as the transports arrived and departed.

His sole focus had turned unto a pretty girl across the walkway from which he stood, but for some reason, he couldn't reach her with his ability. He first caught sense of her as he began walking up the platform towards his normal station. A small crowd had already gathered, a sign that his transport would be arriving soon. At the front of the crowd he sensed her, as if she was drawing his attention to her. He could 'sense' the area immediately around her, as if had cast a small mental field around her head but her mind appeared to his senses as a vacant sphere. No, not vacant. He could feel that space as it had substance, like a dark orb encircling her head. He tried to expand his range but the shield grew thicker. He 'felt' the people around her, could sense their thoughts, but she remained 'closed' to his senses. Confusing him further, he wasn't able to shift his attention from her.

He had never failed to sense another being in such a manner previously. He strained, focusing his entire energy on her but that only made the orb grow thicker. Frustrated and exhausted, he sat down on the nearest bench. Obviously he had done something wrong, he chastised himself. Quickly, though, he corrected himself. He had done everything exactly like the many the times before. He could sense the people around her, which meant that it wasn't a matter of him not doing something correct. He was being blocked.

He couldn't sense everyone and he knew that. Some minds he just didn't know how to handle, but he had a sense of them. This one purposely blocked him and increasing his frustration, she was letting him know that he was being blocked. Confused further, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes as he let out a deep breath. At that moment, the floodgates opened. Suddenly, a tidal wave of thoughts drowned his mind. He heard a cacophony of words, laughter and cries loudly in his head. He sat up startled. When he had sat down, there had not been many people near him. Had he found himself suddenly surrounded by hundreds of beings?

No one stood near him. People were continuing walking to their destinations, as they had been before he had sat down. He looked for the girl he had been trying to persuade but she no longer stood in the platform station. Perhaps her transport had arrived. Immediately he knew that wasn't the case as the crowd had grown. The transport had not arrived yet. As an older woman passed by him, he heard her shout in pain. He jumped to his feet, looking for the cause of her agony but nothing had changed. He looked at her and he heard her scream again. However, she had not physically done so. She looked at him, sensing his stare, and smiled at her with her old, rubbery lips. But her eyes remained strained with agony.

Laughter made him turn around. Similar to the agony from the old lady, it was not physical laughter. He could hear their thoughts. Everyone around him suddenly had opened themselves to him. Or, he had found a way into them? As if on queue upon his discovery, the noise got louder. He covered his ears but that increased the intensity. He began walking on shaky legs towards the platform that would take him to the park but that didn't seem like a good idea. On such a nice afternoon, it would be crowded. He had to get away from people. He stopped suddenly and walked back down the ramp. There seemed to be less people on the street.

As he turned the corner immediately outside the terminal, he bumped into the girl that he had been trying to read earlier. He had been staring at his shoes, focusing on each step, trying to dim the racket in his head. He looked up, apology ready on the tip of his tongue. When he saw her green eyes so close to him, he couldn't speak. Suddenly, all the noise in his head stopped. He felt the sphere around her head spread and encompass his as well.

"Once you discover them, you can't shut them off. They have always been there, behind a wall. When that wall comes down, you can't raise it ever again. You have to build a new wall or you will simply go insane."

Ona took a step back. "What are you talking about?"

She smiled at him and pointed to his head. "Their thoughts. You could always hear them, you just didn't know it."

He shook his head. "No. This has never happened to me before."

She nodded. "Yes, but as I said, you just didn't know you could."

Ona studied her closely. Her beauty was not as pronounced as he had first thought from a distance but there existed no doubt that she was still very attractive. Her long, thick black hair flowed down to her waist, despite having the front area of her head shaved smoothly. The tiny bumps above each eye were the only evident signs that she was not human. With her standing so close to him, he couldn't think clearly and had forgotten her species.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

She offered him a wide smile. "You were trying to reach my mind at the platform up that ramp you just came down from. I felt you. And I blocked you. I know you felt it because you pushed harder. I must say, for your age, you have not developed it very well."

"No I wasn't. Developed what?"

"Mind reading. You've always had the ability to do it just like the ability to control them, although technically that's not what you're doing. You are simply giving a suggestion and your success ratio depends on the strength of your suggestion and the weakness of the mind you are making the suggestion to. You can't really control another mind."

Ona blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

The girl continued talking as if he had not asked a question. "The most important thing is really not that you use it but rather when you don't use it. It's a part of you. Not like walking or eating but more like breathing. You have to actually try not to breath when you want to hold your breath. This is like that. You have to learn how to stop their mental chatter."

As she said that last sentence, she waved to all the people around them on the street. Sensing his disbelief, she continued. "Ona, I want you to tell me one thing."

Startled, he took another step back. Suddenly he didn't feel safe standing in front of that strange pretty girl. "How do you know my name? Who are you?"

She smiled. "Once you tell me that one thing, you will have that answer."

He shook his head as he took another step back. "What one thing are you talking about?"

"How is it that you hear me, yet my lips aren't moving?"

He held his breath. He stared intently at her, concentrating on her mind but the void around her, a wall she had said, grew thicker. She shook her head and continued to smile at him. "You're not allowed in there, Ona. That's private. We must all have some secrets."

He closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to clear the rambling confusing that now dominated his thoughts. Her lips had not moved. She had been talking to him inside his head all that time. And that meant that she too could read minds, and control probably control them. He stood straight and faced her, fists clenched. Summoning all his concentration, he pictured a white wall and tried to encircle his mind with it.

"You are being too broad," she spoke to him, "What you need to do is actually picture this wall as a physical presence. Brick by brick or bolt by bolt."

Ona, distrusting what she said but wanting to block her from his mind, followed her advice. He had not really seen many walls in his young life, but he recalled that a few years ago, he had gone to the zoo and seen huge bear-type creatures behind a white stone wall. He didn't remember what those beasts were called, but he remembered the wall. He focused on the size of the bricks, the amount of mortar and even on the texture of each brick. The white wall began to grow in volume. It started to have texture and as he continued to focus on it, it grew into a real wall encircling a vision of his mind. He actually felt the young girl being repelled from his thoughts. Immediately the sense of being engulfed inside a sphere dissipated, replaced with a peaceful silence.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. She started to clap her approval. When she spoke, she moved her lips. "You're quite good. Better than I thought. It took me many tries before I could do it, and yet you accomplished it on your first attempt. Very nicely done."

He smiled, pleased that he could think clearly again. "Your voice is different than before. Why is that?"

"This is my real voice. What you heard before was only how you thought my voice would sound. I hope you are not disappointed."

He shook his head. "No. Why would I? Who are you?"

"No one, really. I was just visiting and today I must return to my own world. I was supposed to be on that transport that you saw leave a few minutes ago but it is rare that I find another being with our ability."

The sense of being in danger had not lessened but curiosity held a bigger sway over him. Cautiously he tried again to reach her mind and see if he could get an answer to his many questions but her resistance remained strong. He took a dejected breath and stared into her eyes. "Our ability? I don't-"

"Stop saying that!" she loudly chastised him. "I've just been in your head Ona. I know all about you. You can affect machinations, and that I have never herd of before. That makes you even more special."

The anger at having his mind invaded coupled with the frustration at his failure to do the same to her dulled the sense that he had to get away from her. "What do you want from me?"

Her voice quickly became low and soothing. "Ona, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help you. And to protect you."

"Protect me? From what?"

"Ona, listen to me carefully. You have a very special gift but you don't know anything about it. You need training. Tell me, have you discovered what other things you can do yet?"

"What do you mean by other things? What other things?"

She shook her head, teasing him. "It is better that you discover them on your own, Ona. Me telling you is not going to do you any good. I would hate to rob you of that sense of discovery. And I tell you, that's a great feeling, the first time you discover a new thing you are capable of doing. Have you been tested?"

"You mean tested for the Jedi Academy?"

She nodded proudly. "Good. You read my thought that time although I was slightly veiling it. Yes, that test."

Ona nodded, confused by the question. Every new child was tested within hours of being born. That was standard practice. She seemed to sense his thoughts although he prevented her from reading his mind. "I was just curious is all. I too was tested, and I too did not pass. Yet, I can do these things. And I sense in you that you can do much more than I can. All you need is proper training."

He took a step closer to her. "Seriously, you're freaking me out. Who are you and what do you want from me?"

Meeting his gaze and not taking notice of the other step he took closer to her, she maintained that same teasing smile. "Remember, you sought me. I should be asking you that question."

Caught off guard by her assertion, he stood motionless as she took two steps forward, swung her right arm towards him and threw him hard against the wall. His back struck the metal wall, knocking the air from him. The mental wall he had built disappeared. All the mental chatter engulfed him, driving him to his knees more than the impact against the wall. As he tried to breathe, he closed his eyes and created the wall again. The noise ceased as quickly as it had overtaken him. He stood up, searching for the girl. She had vanished. She had flung him a good five feet – without laying a hand on him.

He looked at his chest. The pain he felt there didn't care whether she had laid a physical hand on him or not. Rubbing it, gently as he continued to search for her, it felt as if a blunt object had struck him. Looking up at the huge digital display screens on the building across from him, he saw that the time had grown late. His mother expected him home in a few minutes and he had probably missed another transport and he would have to wait for at least twenty more minutes. Shaking his head and putting the whole ordeal temporarily out of his mind, he turned the corner and ran back to the transport station. Perhaps he would get lucky and one would be waiting for him.

As he ran up the ramp, he didn't sense a pair of gray eyes studying him closely from across the street. Standing next to the tall, muscular figure dressed in a hooded tunic stood the girl with the green eyes. After Ona had disappeared into the transport station, they looked at each other and nodded. They had finally found him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The city of Flaxen dominated the western coast of the mostly wooded northern hemisphere of the planet Larson. It had been built like the ancient cities in the galaxy, instead of sprawling skyward, it spread out over many kilometers. Established as in industrial city, it not only contained the busiest ports on Larson, but Flexons were proud to note that they had the busiest cargo port in their corner of the galaxy. Daily, thousands of ships landed, unloaded their cargo, were reloaded and took off to all points of the galaxy. The intergalactic traffic made Flaxen a very liberal city, a place for all races to intermingle with each other in peace, with one single goal: making a profit.

Despite its huge population, Flaxen didn't contain many tall buildings. Other than the commerce and government centers, the tallest building rose only a mere fifty stories, the Religious Center. Erected in the center of the city, it had a very broad base and tapered off as it rose, ending in a very neat point, exactly one square meter in area. From this area a tall cross slowly rotated, seemingly keeping watch on the entire populace. On the top floor of this building sat the girl with the green eyes next to the hooded tunic dressed man. They sat in front of a large desk, looking at the back of a slim figure that had his back to them as he looked pensively out the glass wall into the eastern side of the city. The view was marred by speeding traffic of transport and passenger ships flying back and forth in an almost constant stream.

They waited to be spoken to before they opened their mouth, as they had been trained to do. When the figure turned to face them, the expression on his long face was not what they had expected. Having searched so long for the source of the 'ripple' in their energy nets, they had expected to see their leader a bit more enthusiastic or happy. The expression on his face did not contain any trace of either. Concern and worry reigned there.

"Are you sure?" he asked in a metallic voice. His voice matched his build, slender and compact but strong. "There cannot be any mistakes again."

The girl looked into the yellow glowing eyes and nodded. "There is no mistake Master Sir. He's the one we've been looking for."

"We've been through this before and each time we have been sure until we bring them here and find out that we were mistaken. Time is running out."

She held her breath. "Master Sir, I had a personal encounter with him earlier today."

The eyes studied her before they turned to the figure sitting next to her. He cleared his throat. "Master Sir, it was not what we intended. He sought her out. We didn't disobey your command. Our intention, as instructed, was purely recognizance but the boy had other ideas. He is the one."

"He? Human?"

They both nodded. "Young and very powerful." she spoke. "He has no clue as to what he can do but learns quickly. I was amazed at his learning ability. There is no doubt this time, Master Sir."

"And what makes you so sure of his learning ability?"

The girl cast a quick nervous look at the man sitting next to her. She turned back to her leader. "Master Sir, he was trying to get into my head. He finds me attractive. I prevented him from doing it but in the process, he discovered his ability to hear others thoughts. He was in pain, I showed how to block them out."

Master Sir's fist struck the desk hard, startling the girl. The man continued staring beyond the leader through the glass wall behind him stoically. "I specifically forbade you to interfere with his mind! I don't want him contaminated!"

"Master Sir, there was no other way. I didn't coax him in anyway. All I did was show him what he could do. I didn't interfere with his free will."

"It is true, Master Sir. I observed from a safe distance, undetected by him. She had to show her ability so that her words became credible."

"Master sir, we had no other choice. The others were failures because we were not allowed to test them in the field. Had we been able to do that, we would have wasted less time."

As soon as the words left her lips she regretted them. She recoiled as if being struck when Master Sir eyes flared up. "So you're now a better leader than me?"

She shook her head vehemently. "Of course not Master Sir, please, that's not what I'm saying. What I meant is that we were not sure of the previous ones. This one, we are sure of."

Master Sir stood up straight and looked around the room, breathing calmly. The glow from his eyes dimmed to their normal intensity. He turned to the man and favored him with a sour look. "How can I imprint not only the importance of this mission as much as the delicacy in which it must be handled?"

"With all due respect, Master Sir, you're not dealing with amateurs. We know how to do our job and we do it very well."

"Have you forgotten the market episode?"

The man shifted in his seat, all of his muscles tense. All three knew he carried more than one blaster, along with a few blades and never took them off, even though no weapons were allowed in the leader's office. He was the only exception. "I did as was instructed. Its discovery was not my fault. In fact, although short lived, we extracted very valuable information from it. Like were he lives."

"Relax. I'm not blaming you for its discovery. Our spies should've anticipated that. However, they were impeded. Which, my friends, it illustrates how careful we have to proceed. She is alert now, the boy's mother, and her precautions will intensify."

"I take great pride in my work."

The glowing yellow eyes intensified, casting the long face in a ghastly yellow silhouette. They dimmed as he took a deep breath. "I was not offending your vanity."

Master Sir turned his attention back to her. "Ronja, you know you're on your last chance here. You've been a tad reckless most of your life. I'm very fond of you but I will not tolerate another mistake of this magnitude. You're one of my favorite disciples, however, there will be no hesitation in your execution if you fail me again."

Ronja looked down on her hands as she nodded. Although she had always understood that the Cause took priority over personal feelings, it always pained her to be reminded of it. "Of course, Master Sir. That has always been understood. I'm only doing my best for you."

He smiled at her. He had been called many things but never a liar. He sincerely loved her above all his disciples but their cause trumped everything else. "Not for me. For the Church – always for the Church for I too answer to a higher power."

"What would you like us to do now?" the man asked in an uneasy tone. Although he had been with the organization for most of his adult life, he never really believed in their Cause. He didn't know what it was and didn't care if he ever found out. He was a paid enforcer and that is as far as he intended it to go. When he heard conversations turn to higher powers, he found it best to extract himself from such discussions.

The yellow eyes focused on him. "Surveillance. I don't want to scare him. He should want to come here of his own free will. Ronja, that's where you come in. You have to get close to him and show him the path he must follow. But don't coax him. He can't be tainted or he wont be as good to us as it has been prophesized."

The man stood up. "That doesn't sound like a job for me. I'm not a babysitter."

The slender figure motioned for him to sit back down. "Relax Arme. I need you in the vicinity of this human boy. The mother could pose a threat to the Cause. If anything happens where there's a danger of losing him, you will bring him in. He may not be a big use to us against his will but I will not allow him to join the enemy. He will die before that happens."

Arme nodded. Although he didn't like his assignment, he had done much worse jobs for the Church. Babysitting a human boy would be akin to a vacation.

"Not even close to a vacation." Sir spoke. "You understand that Master Skywalker is coming here in a few days. He's after the boy. The fact that he must resort to a ridiculous excuse as to mediate a trade agreement proves the importance he himself has placed on him. He is coming to take him to his academy. We can't allow that to happen!"

Arme took a deep breath in attempt to control his temper. "I told you many times that I don't like you people getting in my head."

The skinny man stood straight, eyeing the visitors seating in front of him. "You have always had a bad temper, Arme, but disrespect me again and you wont live to repeat it. You're the best at what you do, and you have certain privileges that no one else even dreams of, but I won't tolerate insolence."

Arme cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Master Sir. It's one of my flaws that I can't seem to get control of."

The leader smiled. "Along with your ego. Precisely why you're the best. Besides, I wasn't in your head. That was written all over your face. We have to take this very seriously. We have searched for many years for this boy and now that we have found him, we must not lose him. Do you understand?"

Ronja nodded. Arme only stared back into those glowing yellow eyes. "I know it's important to you and the Church and that is all I need to understand. The boy will be closely watched, you can count on that Master Sir. I'm not employed to believe, only to do my job."

The leader chuckled. "Is there no hope for you young Arme?"

All three of them knew it was a rhetorical question.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ona walked into this home only a few minutes late. His mother had already started making dinner. Although domestic droids were provided free of charge for anyone that wanted them, as long as they registered them with the City Council, his mother had always refused them in her house. She did most everything herself but she had found four small, used and decent assistant droids in a junk shop that she had fixed herself. When Ona questioned her about going with what he called junk versus the new models, she always answered the same: trust. She didn't trust government issued droids. She knew the droids were equipped to spy and report back to the authorities. Everything had changed since the big bombing attacks a few years prior. The government, in the guise of protecting the citizenry, had become more secretive and intrusive. Most people thought her to be paranoid but working for the government, she knew better. She had 'accidentally' come across documentation on the real reason the local government provided expensive droids free of charge. The government had grown paranoid and wanted strict control of the people.

"You're late," she called from the kitchen. "I was beginning to worry about you."

Ona walked through the spacious living room and strolled into the kitchen, giving his mother a quick kiss on the cheek as he made his way to the table. "I'm sorry. You know, you shouldn't worry. I'm fourteen years of age, almost old enough to apply for most universities. I'm almost a man."

She smiled. "Almost is not quite being."

"Still, please stop worrying about me like a child."

She turned her blue eyes on him. He looked more like a man with each passing day, his shaggy sandy blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and square chin were going to make him a very attractive man, hard for the female populace to resist. Already he stood a few inches taller than her and he had not had his final growth spurt. He had gotten those traits from his father. She herself had short black hair. Physically, the only trait he had inherited from her was the thin nose.

"Ona, if you want to be treated like a grown-up, you have to be responsible like one. What is our agreement?"

He sighed. They had had this conversation many times before, with increasing frequency as he got older. "That I should call you if I'm going to be late, even a few minutes."

"And did you?" she demanded with her stance more so than with the infliction of her voice. She always tried to keep her tone calm when she spoke to her son. "I don't remember getting any call from my son."

He rolled his eyes. "I don't see what the big deal is. Do you think the other boys have to go through this every time they are a little late?"

"So you were with friends that I have not met yet?"

He shook his head. She didn't relax her stare. "One of the most important qualities in a person is whether they can be trusted to keep their word, Ona. Besides, you know that argument doesn't get you anywhere. Your friends would have to answer the same question if they had me as a mother. Lucky you."

He stood up, recognizing his defeat. "Yes, lucky me. I'm going to wash up for dinner."

"Ona, did anything odd happen today?"

He stopped and turned back to face her. The question caught him off guard. As far as he knew, she didn't have the same mental abilities. It had occurred to him that he would have had to inherit them from either both parents or one of them and lately he had tested her by sending thoughts to her to try to get a reaction. Either she had the galaxy's greatest poker face, or she didn't have the same ability. He believed the latter to be true. He must've inherited his ability from his father. "What do you mean?" he asked nervously.

"You seem a little distracted and distant." She answered, studying him closely.

She picked up a tiny silver cylinder with four small green buttons on the side and a red one on the tip. She pushed the top green button. A small orb activated from its storage unit at the back of the house and began to float silently into the kitchen. Slightly bigger than a human head, it had four small arms and two small antenna. Designed as a domestic chef assistant, she had retrofitted it to be her main kitchen cleaner. She pressed the button again, beckoning it to hurry at its maximum speed. Moving silently five feet off the ground, it sped through the living room and headed towards the kitchen, directly behind Ona.

All domestic droids were equipped with life-force sensors that prevented them from actually touching a living thing while they were engaged in their task. Had she not deactivated this sensor, the droid would have registered Ona standing on its path and would have adjusted its course around him. She slid the hand that had the remote into her pocket, keeping it from his view. She turned back to the counter, slyly keeping an eye on him. She watched as the droid zoomed in a direct path to strike her son with enough force to cause serious physical damage. She moved her thumb to the red deactivation button and prepared to push it.

He shook his head. "No, nothing happened. I mean I met a girl at the transport station."

A warning screamed in his head. He bent his knees and ducked as the droid zoomed above his head, missing him by no more than a centimeter. The droid stopped in front of his mother, as it had been programmed to do. She gave him a startled look then quickly looked menacingly at the droid.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

Ona stood straight, staring at the floating orb of metal and circuits as it awaited a chore command from his mother. "That thing nearly decapitated me! It's broken. I think you better take it in to have it fixed. Or better yet, trade it in for a new model."

She favored him with a soothing look. "Ona, they're equipped with sensors that prevent direct contact with living beings. They shouldn't operate if the sensor becomes inoperable. You didn't overreact?"

He shot her an incredulous glare. "You didn't see that? If I had not ducked, I would be dead right now."

She studied the floating droid as she spoke. Her hand shifted slightly in her pocket as she pressed another button. "I'll certainly have it looked at. I didn't hear it, as you know they are supposed to be silent. Good thing this one is not."

"I didn't hear it, I saw it. Just in time, too."

A second after the last word left his lips, he sidestepped and ducked to his left as another droid zoomed an inch from his shoulder. The similar droid came to a sudden stop in front of his mother, a little below the first one. This one had bulkier arms and a shorter antenna erected in its center.

Ona's eyed the second droid. "What is going on here? Are they all broken?"

His mother took out the control from her pocket and depressed the top button, deactivating both droids. "Now that one I saw. I will take them in tomorrow. If not for your reflexes, that one would have definitely knocked you down and broken a bone."

"Yes, a good thing I saw it coming. But twice may be all the luck I have tonight. Please, no more junk droids in my presence."

"No, no more junk droids. Watch out, I am sending them back to storage."

He stepped into the kitchen and leaned against the wall as the droids slowly floated past him, through the living room and back to their storage fixtures. They passed silently.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Talking about having an odd day." he joked.

She smiled and turned back to her pot. "Yeah, perhaps you are right and I should just get us a couple of new droids. These may be too costly to repair. You met a girl?

Caught off guard by her sudden change of topic, he nodded slowly. "Ah, so it has started. What's her name?"

He ran his hand through his hair as he looked at his shoes. "You know, I didn't find that out. I was so nervous and flustered by her that at the end, I left without catching her name. She said she's not from around here. She was only visiting and had to leave. I don't think I'll be seeing her again."

His mother studied him closely. She didn't like the stress she picked up in his tone. "Where is she from?"

Ona looked her in the eye. "Mother, do you know how many people one meets at the transport station if you just try a little? I don't know. I didn't have time to ask her. I'm sorry. I just got carried away talking with her and missed the first transport. It's not a big deal. Okay?"

She nodded reluctantly, knowing that pushing him further would only result in less information. "Ona, I'm just curious. It's not everyday you meet a girl that gets you all flustered. Seems to me you like her."

He shook his head but smiled. "No. It's not like that. I mean, yes, she was beautiful and interesting but you know, it's not like that."

She smiled at him. "And what is it like?"

He smiled back. "It's hard to say. She was, um, interesting."

"Okay lover boy, go wash up. Dinner is almost ready."

He turned and walked briskly into the living room and turned right, past the hallway and into his room. As soon as she heard his door hiss closed, her smile faded. A girl? Not that it would be odd for him to meet a girl at the transport station as he was a very handsome young man but the timing didn't seem right. No name and no origin, her son flustered on the subject. Perhaps he had fallen in love, boys his age certainly seemed to fall in and out love almost on a daily basis but names in the least would be exchanged.

She didn't have his ability but she had something almost as strong: mother's intuition. And at the moment, the alarms were ringing. Should she make the call or wait until the appointed time? If she rang the alarm, and it turned out be caused by nothing more than a young man's hyper hormones, she cold do more harm than good. Her son had to be protected but she could not afford to alienate him. What would she do without him?

But what about the hooded man she had caught following him last week? She knew Ona had no idea that had occurred but she had made sure of it before making the initial call. They had been walking through the market square, Ona just looking at the pretty females around him, trying hard not to be too obvious but of course, being too obvious, when she first spotted him. He sat outside of a bar, drinking, seemingly watching the entire crowd in the street. Except that his attention kept turning towards her son.

She stopped at a vegetable stand and positioned herself where she had a direct view of him. As she pretended to rummage through the yellow, green and red vegetables, she raised her eyes and again caught him staring at his son, who stood a few stalls in front of her, looking admiring at a young lady with very little clothing on her. The sun shone hot and bright, there was no shade where the figure sat and yet his hood was drawn tightly around his face. He either had an aversion to the sun, or an aversion to being seen.

Every few seconds he would look at another person but his eyes quickly sought out her son. She spoke to the stall droid and placed her order and as it was being finalized, she took out a small recorder from her pocket. Trying to look as nonchalantly as possible, she aimed it in the direction of the hooded man. But when she looked, the chair stood empty. Concerned, she turned to her son. He stood in the same spot, staring at the same scantily clothed female with blue skin. She searched the crowd for the hooded figure but didn't see him. She put the recorder back into her pocket and took the receipt from the droid. Perhaps she had over reacted. As she turn back to her son, she saw him again, moving closer towards him.

"Ona, it's time to go." She called out. Ona turned at the sound of her voice, embarrassed by the object of his attention. He waved to her in acknowledgement and began to walk towards her. Pretending that she dropped something, she tilted her head down but kept her eyes on the crowd, following the hooded man as he passed by her son, giving him a very close inspection. She reached into her pocket, her fingers wrapping around the handle of the small blaster she always carried. It had been many years since she had used it but she believed that she still had the deadly aim that had earned her a spot on the shuttle landed on Endor.

The hooded brushed past Ona without stopping. Ona favored him with a sour look but quickly disregarded him. In the crowded marketplace, people always bumped into each other. Having been trained as a soldier at an earlier age, she caught the trick the hooded man had used. But not wanting to alert her boy of anything happening out of the ordinary, she didn't say anything about the situation. But at night, while he slept, she snuck into his room and inspected the tunic he had been wearing earlier in the market. She checked the pockets and the inner linings closely. On the right sleeve she found the tracking device. The fact that someone wanted to track her child didn't frighten her as much as the identity of the people behind it. The tracking device was a tiny cross.

She took it into the kitchen and threw it into the incindiator. She would have to keep a closer eye on her son but in such a manner as for him to be unaware. The time had come to make the first call. She had feared the arrival of this moment but she had been trained as a soldier of the New Republic and knew exactly what she needed to do. Making the second call would be a little more difficult. It would require actual proof.

She stood at the counter, staring at the control for the droids. Did her son realize that he hadn't seen them coming at him with his eyes? His back had been turned. She had engaged him purposely, distracting him. The first droid could have been a lucky avoidance but the second one could not be classified as such. He had sensed the danger and averted it.

Instead of being glad at her discovery, she felt dread. She had her proof. She looked up at the screen above the kitchen doorway and saw her son's infrared blob displayed. Judging by its location, she knew he was taking a shower. She walked quickly into her room and activated the secret telecommunications console that hid in her closet. She activated the jamming device and placed the call.


End file.
